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they live, the better; but the national government must direct and guide the transition. It must not withdraw until the transition has been completely effected; otherwise the Indians will fall between two stools.

In the ensuing section of this report, the survey staff recommends the establishment in the Indian Service of a professional and technical Division of Planning and Development free from immediate administrative duties. One of the great services such a division can render is to aid in developing effective cooperative programs with the different states, adapted to the local conditions. The time is apparently ripe for marked advances in this direction.

The Issuance of Fee Patents. In the vital matter of the issue of fee patents and the release of Indians from wardship, the view taken is naturally that the ultimate goal is to advance the Indian to the point where he is competent to take care of himself and to manage his own property. The survey staff is inclined to endorse the definition of competency given by one very able superintendent to the effect that “That Indian is competent who although he might lose his property could and would still make his own way by his own efforts.” The evidence warrants the conclusion, however, that in the past fee patents have been issued too freely, that they have been given before the Indian has given sufficient demonstration of his capacity to make his own way. Too much reliance has been placed on the theory that the way to teach a boy to swim is to throw him overboard and let him swim or drown. The Indian faces too swift and treacherous a current for such an experiment at this period of his development. Enough attention has not been given to keeping actual records of his achievements and basing the decisions regarding competency on facts rather than opinions. Too little attention has been paid to what has happened to Indians declared competent. The proof that the Indian is in fact competent is not the issuance of the fee patent and the release from wardship but what becomes of the Indian after he is released. The problem of the government is to train him for self support in our civilization. Its real responsibility does not end with the fee patent and release from wardship. These actions may evidence not competency on the part of the Indian but a serious error in judgment on the part of the officials who declared him competent.